Colorado Springs, Colo. (August 6, 2012) – USA Cycling is pleased to announce the 42 athletes that will represent the United States at the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Saalfelden-Leogang, Austria, Aug. 31 – Sept. 9.

CROSS-COUNTRY

After representing the United States at the Olympic Games in London, Todd Wells(Durango, Colo./Specialized Racing) and Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont./Subaru-Trek) will lead the elite men’s cross country squad in Austria. The two are automatic qualifiers by way of their Olympic team nominations. They’ll be joined by another automatic nominee, Colin Cares (Boulder, Colo./Kenda-Felt) who is first in the overall Pro XCT rankings. Also toeing the line will be discretionary picks Stephen Ettinger(Cashmere, Wash. /BMC Mountain Bike Racing Team), Mitchell Hoke (Boulder, Colo./Team Clif Bar), and Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass./Kenda-Seven-NoTubes).

Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro Team) and Lea Davison (Jericho, Vt. / Specialized Racing) will be two more 2012 Olympians to fight for rainbow stripes in Austria. They are joined on the women’s cross country team by automatic qualifiersMonique Pua Mata (Westminister, Calif./Sho-air-Specialized) and Heather Irmiger ( Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Trek). Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass ./Kenda-Seven-NoTubes) and Erin Huck (Boulder, Colo./Toyko Joe’s) will round out the women’s squad as discretionary nominations.

The U.S. will also field U23 and junior men’s and women’s squads in the cross-country races.

World Cup stand-out Howard Grotts (Durango, Colo./Specialized Racing) will lead the U.S. U23 men. He’ll be joined by automatic qualifiers Russell Finsterwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Subaru-Trek) and Kerry Werner (Banner Elk, N.C./BMC Mountain Bike Development Team), and by discretionary qualifier Skyler Trujillo (Fort Collins, Colo./Niner Stans Ergon). A duo of U23 women will don the red, white and blue. Both automatic qualifiers, Lauren Catlin (Fairfax, Calif./Durango Devo) and Deidre York (Indio, Calif./The Gear Movement-Epic Pro Cycle) will line up to fight for a world title.

GRAVITY

Leading the men’s downhill contingent will be reigning national champion and four-time world cup winner in 2012, Aaron Gwin(Temecula, Calif./Trek World Racing). He’ll be joined on the downhill squad by two other automatic qualifiers who earned their spots by virtue of their world cup rankings — Luke Strobel(Issaqua, Wash.) and Mitch Ropelato (Ogden, Utah/Monster Energy/Specialized). Rounding out the men’s downhill group will be discretionary picks Eliot Jackson (Westlake Village, CA/), Neko Mulally (Reading, Pa./Trek World Racing), Logan Binggeli (Saint George, Utah/KHS), and Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dirt Norco Race Team)

Having won the dual slalom national championship title this year, Neko Mulally will also compete in the four-cross competition at worlds as an automatic selection. He’ll be joined in the four-by-four competition by discretionary pick Blake Carney (Camarillo, Calif.) who placed second to Mulally at nationals.

In the women’s downhill competition, powerhouse riders Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./Team Norco International) and Jacqueline Harmony(Sedona, Ariz./IXS-510 Smith Optics) earned automatic nominations to the U.S. team. Kintner was fourth in the first World Cup and is ranked 11th overall while Harmony is the reigning national champ and overall Pro GRT leader. The ladies will be joined by discretionary nominees,Jaime Rees (Spokane, WA/The Bike Hub) and Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va./DRD Intense), who were third and fourth respectively in this year’s national championships.

In the elite women’s four-cross, the lone competitor for the U.S will be Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.), who automatically qualified for her start spot by virtue of her dual slalom win at the 2012 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships.